The Simpsons: 10 Most Overrated Episodes

1. El Viaje Misterioso De Nuestro Jomer (Season 8, Episode 9)

I understand that this is a controversial choice because people hold this episode very close to their hearts. But I honestly don€™t get it. Whereas most of the episodes on this list are ones that I actually do like, but just feel get a bit more credit than they deserve, this one has always felt incredibly boring to me, and additionally it has always felt like an episode trying incredibly hard to be edgy, when it is nothing of the sort. People really seem to enjoy this episode, particularly the surreal trips that Homer goes on when under the influence of mushrooms (sorry €“ the ghost pepper). But it€™s such a hackneyed and unoriginal idea that it€™s hard to understand why people assume the episode to be so entertaining and ground-breaking. Surrealism in animation is as old as the medium itself €“ if you don€™t believe me just look up Warner Brothers shorts from the 1930s (although be prepared for some pretty brutal racism in those ones). What is additionally really frustrating about this episode is the resurgence that it received when the Johnny Cash Biopic Walk the Line was released in 2004. With the release of that film there was a sudden rush of people who had not even heard of the man a few years before, pretending that they were Johnny Cash fans all along, and claiming this episode was always a favourite of theirs because of his cameo. If you admitted that you weren€™t actually that big a fan of Johnny Cash, and that you weren€™t in love with the cameo, it was like you were missing some subtle secret at the heart of this episode that was never there. I can€™t think of another episode of the Simpsons that has received such rapturous acclaim for having so little substance. I can't stand this episode, and will never understand it. I feel like I have lost a few friends by writing this.